The student council sent out a school-wide email marking January 7th as the date by which club approval applications must be filled out. With many clubs not having met up until this point, however, there became the threat of many clubs being “dissolved.”

The official George School clubs list for the latter semester was recently released, with some clubs from the beginning of the year missing. Having a club dissolved does not mean it is shut down, though. Instead, it simply loses the financial support of the student council, assuming it was previously on something called the “master list”. According to the student council president, Ankita,

“The master list is a list of clubs on campus that George School officially recognizes as “GS Clubs.” The benefits of this list are that clubs can request funding from student council, and will be on the George School website as official clubs. If clubs are not on this list, they may not receive funding/outreach help from student council or GS (with the exception of certain affinity groups and publications).”

Even though club funding is exclusive only to those on the master list, it is not supposed to shun off other clubs seeking support. In fact, the student council recalls that about ten new clubs are put on the master list per school year. As for getting on the master list, a club simply needs to make it through the application process, which Ankita describes as,

“a holistic review process. Each club has to fill out the same form indicating its purpose as a group. Student Council looks at the club’s purpose/mission statement. Then, through the Quaker decision process, where each member of the council has a say, we discuss the club and its potential impact. The president/faculty sponsor then gathers the sense of the meeting and forms a verdict about the club, which is then stated. If any of the council members disagree with the verdict, they may object, in which case we return to the quaker decision making process involving discussion. If a club is approved by student council, it is put on the master list.”

Additionally, about 80%-90% of club applications that are submitted each year are accepted, with their correlating clubs hence being put on the master list. In the case that a club is rejected, or dissolved (taken off the master list), though the club will no longer receive funding from the student council, it can still operate on its own.

This brings into relevancy the club renewal process at the end of the first semester. The premise for it is simple, in which clubs have to briefly report to the student council on their activity and accomplishments since the start of the year. The most important part to this is how often each club has met, as it is safe to say that the student council will more willingly offer funding to a club that meets weekly over a club that meets every month or two. That said, the student council is still very lenient in their review. Ankita states, in regards to the frequency that different clubs meet,

“Each club has its own special case. For example, a sports related club that relies on good weather will not be able to meet in the winter, in which case, their club needs to be noted as active in the spring/fall only. Other clubs may rely on a competition season that is in the fall or spring only. There is usually a reason why clubs rarely meet or do not meet, and we are hoping that this policy by student council helps them to sort these reasons out.”

In summary, despite the intimidating email the student council recently sent out, titled “YOUR CLUB MAY BE DISSOLVED” in all-caps, club leaders should not have much to fear. After all, the student council probably already expects clubs that operate on regular funding from them to be on top of their own activity, while those who do not need it can be a lot more flexible. However, if a club not on the master list should ever decide that it wants funding for a project or particular activity, then it might as well start meeting more often.